Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Talks Shakespeare at Roundtable Event

At a roundtable discussion
of The Merchant of Venice at
Montclair State on September 23, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg proved
she is well versed in Shakespeare, along with constitutional law.

Ginsburg, whose
grandson appears in the Peak Performances production of the controversial Shakespeare play at
the Kasser Theater through October 1, joined scholars David Scott Kastan of
Yale University and James Shapiro of Columbia University in a conversation prior
to the performance at the University’s Kasser Theater.

In addition to
having studied Shakespeare in school, Ginsburg has performed various roles with
the Shakespeare Theater Company in Washington, D.C., which, she said, invites the
Supreme Court of the United States justices to play “bit parts for lawyer’s
night.”

“In Henry VI, I was
‘Dick the Butcher’ who has the famous line, ‘First thing we do, let’s kill all
the lawyers,’ and I then have to explain that was not meant as a putdown of
lawyers. It takes place during The Jack Cade Rebellion. Jack Cade is an
anarchist. And you need the law to save the society from chaos.”

When asked about
her earliest exposure to Shakespeare, Ginsburg responded that her first experience
with Shakespeare was, coincidentally, The
Merchant of Venice, but it was not on stage, because it had been banned
from public schools in New York. “So, then I decided to read the play,” said
Ginsburg, who grew up in Brooklyn. “And, of course, Shylock’s famous speech, ‘Hath
not a Jew eyes’ and Portia’s speech ‘the quality of mercy is not strained.’ It
also came to me that these are two wonderful speeches but neither character is
likable. There isn’t an emergent hero or heroine. They’re all flawed people.”

The Peak
Performances production, directed by Karin Coonrod and performed by the Compagnia
de Colombari, addresses the notion of “otherness” by having the Jewish
moneylender Shylock performed by five actors of different races, ethnicities
and even gender. Coonrod first staged this production in 2016 in the Jewish
ghetto of Venice, its original setting. According to the program, Coonrod says,
“Now we are in the New World after a shattering and divisive election that
challenges our aspirations. The play calls us to witness the stranger in our
midst and feel the extremities of rage inside our shared humanity.”

Kasten, Shapiro
and Ginsburg discussed specific scenes and nuances of Shakespeare and whether Merchant is anti-Semitic because of its
negative portrayal of Shylock. Ginsburg pointed out that the female lead, Portia,
who disguises herself as a lawyer-judge to pronounce judgement against Shylock,
is conniving and hypocritical.

“Shylock is the
alien. But in a way, she should have understood that status,” Ginsburg said. “Portia
is a woman pretending to be a man pretending to be a lawyer-judge at a time
when she could not be a lawyer or a judge, so in a sense she is an outsider,
too. That’s why it’s remarkable that she could do this to Shylock.”

In introducing
Saturday’s roundtable, Montclair State English Professor Naomi Liebler, lauded Peak
Performances’ unique and updated production as a thought-provoking piece for
the current political climate.

“In all the ways
that really matter, this perfect combination, this perfect brainstorm, is not
at all surprising with its collection of ‘others’ in a place suspicious of and
yet dependent on them for survival,” said Liebler. “Merchant is the right play for us…not only because it vibrates with
national and global issues but also because it speaks to this university’s own
embrace of diversity. It’s a stroke of good luck we should have all of this
right here, right now.”

All week, the
University community was abuzz about Ginsburg’s visit to campus, and the
roundtable was attended by faculty, staff, students and invited guests,
including New Jersey Senator Lorretta Weinberg, State Supreme Court Justice
Stuart Rabner and Ginsburg’s grandson, Paul Spera, a Paris-based actor who
plays the role of Lorenzo.

“When a person of
important and substantial achievement visits the University, it offers an
opportunity to provide our students with a model of what one can make of a
life,” said Montclair State President Susan A. Cole.

Ginsburg’s visit “makes
real…a person who is the second woman to be appointed to the U.S. Supreme
Court, an accomplished American jurist, an advocate for women's rights and an
example of the uses of education, all wrapped up within the context of a
grandmother proud of her grandson and defying the prejudices we have about age
in our society,” said Cole.

Two 2017 graduates
were given the opportunity to ask questions of the panel. Gustavo Vasquez and
Allison Gormley asked questions about assimilation and conversion – and
resistance to them – that impressed the panel, and they got to pose for a
picture with Ginsburg afterward.

“It was humbling
to get the opportunity to ask her a question,” said Gustavo Vasquez, who
majored in English and teaching. “It was a surreal experience, really. I feel like,
‘Did that just happen?’”

According to
Gormley, who just starting teaching 8th grade English, “there are no words to
describe the experience. Justice Ginsburg is a powerful female that I look up
to. It was a little overwhelming.”

The play will also
provide a backdrop for another conversation on campus, this time between
its director Karin Coonrod and Professor Teresa Fiore, Inserra Chair in Italian
and Italian American Studies, and Alessandro Cassin of the Primo Levi Center in
New York on issues of immigration and religion in the contemporary world at the
Kasser Theater on the evening of September 26.